Hopper for filling-replenishing looms.



PATENTED APR. 3; 1906.

B. UUNNIPF. HOPPER FOR FILLING REPLENISHING LOOMS.

APPLICATION FILED. AUG. 2 1905.

III. III! UNITED STATES PATENT orrron.

EDWARD CUNNIFF, OF NEW BEDFORD, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO DRAPER COMPANY. OF HOPEDALE, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORA- TION OF MAINE.

HOPPER FOR F'ILLING-REPLENIISHING LOOWIS- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented April 3, 1906.

Application filed August 2,1905. Serial No. 272,293.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD CUNNIFF, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New Bedford, county of Bristol, State of Mas sachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Hoppers for Filling-Replenishing Looms, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters and figures on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention has forits object the production of a novel hopper or filling-feeder for automatic filling-replenishing looms of the Northrop type, wherein a reserve supply of filling carriers or bobbins is detachably held in an intermittingly-rotated hopper, from which the filling-carriers are transferred one by one to the shuttle as occasion demands. Such a loom is shown in United States Patent No. 529,940 to Northrop and in later patents, the hopper therein shown comprising two connected rotatable disks provided, respectively, with means to engage and detachably hold the butts and tips of a circularly-arranged series of filling carriers. Means mounted on the hopper hold the several filling ends which are led from the tips of the fillingcarriers, and by suitable mechanisms varying in character and well known to those skilled in the art the hopper is rotated step by step to bring one filling-carrier after another into transferring position.

In my present invention I have simplified the construction of the hopper and have provided means to engage and wholly sustain the filling-carriers by their butts alone, with their tips free and unsupported, means being provided to act upon the outer ends of the butts and cooperating with the holding means to properly position the filling-carriers, the butts being provided with annular ribs, projections, or rings in a manner common to filling-carriers used in Northrop looms.

The various novel features of my invention will be fully described in the subjoined specification, and particularly pointed out in the following claims.

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the fillingreplenishing mechanism of a Northrop loom with a hopper embodyin one form of my invention. Fig. 2 is an e11 arged detail, partly broken out, of the rotatable carrier and the butt-holding devices thereon; and Fig. 3 is a radial sectional detail on the line 3 3, Fig. 2, the nearer one of the pan of aws being 1 broken off.

Referring to Fig. 1, the lay A having a replenishing shuttle-box B, the breast-beam A having a stand A rigidly secured thereto, provided with a horizontal studf, on which is mounted the transferrerf, the lifting-spring S for the latter, the tip-depressor 25 on the downturned end of a lateral arm 26, secured to the transferrer, and the dog at on the depending extension f of the transferrer may be all substantially as in the Northrop loom above referred to and operate as therein set forth.

The stand A in the present embodiment of my invention is upturned to form a head 1, having a substantially circular shape for the greater portion thereof and slightly dished on its inner face, as at 2, Fig. 3, to strengthen and give it greater rigidity. This head supports a rigid central and horizontally-extended stud 3, projecting outward, as shown in. Fig. 1, and on the stud is rotatably mounted a carrier, shown as a circular disk 4, having an elongated hub 5 surrounding the stud. (See Fig. 1.) The carrier is located quite close to the outer flat face of the head 1, as shown in Fig. 3, and the inner or adjacent face of the carrier 4 is preferably recessed to form a series of circularly-arranged seats or pockets 6. A butt-holding device is mounted in each seat, such device being preferably made of resilient or spring metal and com prising a base 7, bifurcated to present two yielding or spring-acting jaws 8, which extend beyond the periphery of the carrier, as shown clearly in Fig. 2. The base 7 is fixedly secured in the seat by rivets or screws 9, the jaws being bent or shaped to rest against the sides of the seat. Each jaw at its outer free end is enlarged at 10, Fig. 3, to overhang the periphery of the carrier and provided on its inner face with a longitudinal groove 11.

The filling-carriers l) have their heads or butts I) provided with annular ribs or rings b to be engaged by a holding device in the shuttle in a well-known manner, and when. the hopper is to be loaded the attendant presses the butt of a filling-carrier between a pair of the jaws 8, the endmost ring 6 as herein shown, entering the grooves 11 in the enlarged portions 10 of the jaws, the radial inward movement of the filling-carrier being limited by the periphery of the carrier 4, as

shown. The head 1 serves to position the filll ing-carriers longitudinally, the end of the butt tudinal axes of the being slid over the faceof the head as the butt is inserted in the jaws. Said head also assists in preventing any tipping of the fillingcarriers, acting in conjunction with the jaws to hold the filling-carriers with their longitu dinal axes in parallelism with each other and with the axis of rotation of the hopper.

It will be seen that the filling-carriers are sustained wholly by their butts, the tips being left free and unsupported, as the jaws hold the butts securely until the'transferrer acts to remove a filling-carrier from the hopper, at which time the jaws will be downturned and present no obstacle to removal of the butt therefrom. As the endmost ring only is engaged by the jaws, the remaining rings 6 afford ample engagement for the transferrer when called into operation.

In practice a ratchet-disk 12 is secured to the inner face of the carrier 4 (see Fig. 1) to be engaged by the feed and detent pawls of the hopper-actuating mechanism, as is usual.

The filling ends leading from the tips of the filling-carriers must be held in some manner, and herein I have utilized a wellknown form of end holder for the purpose, it consisting of a trumpet-shaped disk 13, Fig. 1, secured to the hub 5 of the carrier 4, its periphery being notched 0r toothed to position the filling ends, and a stud 14 is provided to fasten the filling end after it is led over the periphery of the disk.

' In Fig. 1 I have shown a single filling-carrier in position in the hopper, with its filling end tled over the disk 13 to the stud 14.

I make no claim to the filling-end holder shown and described, as the same is not per se of my invention; but it is a convenient and efficient device and well adapted for the purpose.

The hopper herein shown is simple, cheap to construct, durable, and light in weight.

Changes or modifications in various details thereof may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention, one practical embodiment whereof is herein shown and described.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A hopper for automatic looms, comprising a series of circularly-arranged, rigidlyconnected holding devices adapted each to engage and detachably retain the butt of a filling-carrier, a rotatable carrier on which he holding devices are mounted, the longifilling-carriers being parallel to the axis of rotation of the carrier, and a fixed support adjacent the latter and upon which the outer ends of the butts of the filling-carriers slide during rotative movement of the carrier.

2. A hopper for automatic looms, comprising a rotatably-mounted, circular disk, a series of radially-extended spring-acting holding devices thereon to engage and detachably retain the butts of a series of filling-carriers with their axes parallel to the axis of the disk, and a fixed support upon which the outer ends of the butts slide when the carrier is rotated.

3. A hopper for automatic looms, comprising a carrier mounted to rotate about a substantially horizontal axis, a series of radiallyextended springacting holders thereon to engage the butts of a plurality of filling-carriers and hold them in parallelism with the carrier-axis, and means to act upon the outer ends of the butts and cooperate with the holders in properly positioning the filling-carriers.

l. In a loom, in combination, an upright, stationary head having a horizontal stud fixed thereto, a disk rotatably mounted on the stud and provided with a series of pairs of spring-jaws grooved on their inner faces, each pair being adapted to engage and detachably hold the annularly-ribbed butt of a fillingcarrier, and sustain the same with its tip unsupported, the outer ends of the butts resting upon the adjacent face of the head, and a filling-end holder fixedly connected with the disk beyond the tips of the filling-carriers.

5. A hopper for automatic looms, comprising a rotatably-mounted, circular disk, a series of pairs of spring-jaws mounted thereon and projecting beyond its periphery, to engage and detachably hold by their butts only a series of filling-carriers, the edge of the disk positioning the same radially, and a fixed stop against which the outer ends of the butts rest, to longitudinally position the filling-carriers and prevent tilting thereof in the jaws.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EDWARD OUNNIFF. 

